A Simple Home-made Honing Guide for Plane Irons and Chisels. Part 2 - To the Workshop!

This method is to enable the beginner at sharpening to get a feel for the correct sharpening angle by using a home-made low-cost guide.

Me and my shadow - sharpening chisels and planes 

How to make the guide

 



I screwed the  MDF board to a piece of timber so that it could stand vertically on its flat edge on my workbench.

I supported the flashlight horizontally between the laths of a fruit crate at the same level as the top face of the sharpening stone.  The 30° line on the board was coincident with the light path from the flashlight. To get a sharp shadow you will need to position the stone about 100mm (4") from the board.

 

How to use the guide to sharpen tools

When I turned on the flashlight the shadow cast by the stone was clearly visible on the board and the 30° line could be easily seen. 

As I placed the chisel tip onto the stone surface, the shadow cast by it could be seen on the board. I then aligned the shadow with the 30° line.

I could now start honing. By keeping on checking the line of the shadow with the 30° line on the board I ensured that the angle was maintained at each pass of the chisel.

As the honing progressed, it was very simple to change to the finer grit of the diamond-faced sharpening stone. Even changing to an oilstone would not alter the relationship of the chisel angle to the stone face. 

 

Obviously, you need to ensure that during the honing process the long axis of the tool is square to the face of the stone so as not to produce a sharp edge that slopes across the tool's width. 

 Here's the film: 

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All the best and Happy honing! Andy

© Andy Colley 2014

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